Thursday 3 September 2009 11.40 EDT
First published on Thursday 3 September 2009 11.40 EDT

Is Daniel Hannan at it again? I only ask because he has just done a very interesting blog on his Telegraph site. In it he says that Labour researchers have been following him more closely in recent weeks looking for areas where he disagrees with David Cameron.

"The wonder," Hannan says, "is that it took them so long. As regular readers will know, there are lots of areas where I diverge from the party line, from wanting to leave the EU to opposing the bail-outs."

Now everyone who cares about the European debate knows that Hannan wants out of the EU. But he doesn't generally say so. Indeed, I can't off hand remember an occasion when he was so clear on the matter. Cameron's line, of course, is that the UK should be "in Europe, not ruled by Europe".

I have just canvassed opinion among MPs and MEPs who know the subject (and Hannan) pretty well and they say he has been careful, always, to stop short of expressing his withdrawalist longings so directly.

Hannan, after all, was a prime mover behind the new Conservative party grouping in the European parliament that is dedicated to the creation of a less centralised EU, rather than to withdrawal or abolition. It leader, Michal Kaminski, whom Hannan greatly admires backs the Lisbon treaty.

With Ireland due to hold another referendum on Lisbon next month and its people likely to say yes, Europe will be back on the radar in a big way. Cameron has promised a UK referendum on the Treaty only if it has not been ratified by all member states when (and if) he comes to power. If Ireland says yes he will not have to hold one but says, feebly, he will "not let matters rest there".

But what is increasingly clear is that an Irish yes vote will not get Cameron off the hook.

Hannan and co are desperate for a UK referendum, and will push for one whatever happens in Ireland. This is because they know a no vote here would bring withdrawal nearer. And that, as he has admitted above, is what he craves every bit as much (and probably more) than the abolition of the NHS.